Pages

September 25, 2009

G153: Yankees 9, Red Sox 5

Lester left the game in the third inning after being hit on the right knee (or the inside of the right knee) by Melky Cabrera. He was able to walk off the field on his own. X-rays were negative and Lester has a contusion on his right quad.

Lester (2.1-8-5-3-3, 78) had a rough outing from his very first pitch, which Derek Jeter grounded into center field.

Victor Martinez homered in the fourth to extend his hitting streak to 24 games. (Chamberlain had retired the first 11 Boston batters.) Ortiz hit a two-run bomb in the sixth.

Since May 31, Jon Lester has a 2.13 ERA, better than every major league pitcher except Felix Hernandez (1.99) over that time period.

5.5 GB with 10 games to play. Common sense says the Red Sox will not storm back and win the East (Baseball Prospectus puts the Sox's chances of doing so at 1.1%), but it remains possible.

Since August 10, when they were swept by the Yankees in a four-game series in New York, the Red Sox are 29-13 -- the best record in baseball over that span. At 91-61, Boston has the 3rd best record in baseball, after the Yankees (97-56) and Dodgers (92-61).

With Boston's Wild Card magic number at 3, the Red Sox could be the first team to popchampagne at the new Yankee Stadium. David Ortiz: "So we don't have to get our clubhouse dirty."

Ryan (Boston): Amy, any chance we see some fireworks tonight? NY has hit 10 Boston batters and we have yet to see any retaliation.

Amy K. Nelson: Great question ... Red Sox players were, um, very upset last series in NY ... one player told me he expected retaliation and it never came, in large part because of how the series went. Not sure, there's a lot still these teams need to accomplish, but I can tell you this: Red Sox are relishing chance to celebrate at Yankee Stadium and they will tear that place apart, if they do it on Sat, wonder if we'll see any repercussions in Sunday's game?

Do you recommend Collapse above Guns, Germs, and Steel or don't you have an opinion?

They are both great books.

Reading GG&S will ground you in certain concepts for Collapse.

Collapse is more accessible, written more as a catalyst for change. So it's very direct and open in its point of view, less academic, less loaded down with statistics.

GG&S can be a little dense. BUT it's a fascinating book, well worth the effort to read it.

I found it helpful, in some chapters, to only skim the examples and evidence. It was enough to know the fact that had been uncovered, without the 5 paragraphs of statistics to support it.

Hm, was this helpful? I loved them both. For people who are not so keen on dense nonfiction, go for Collapse, it will be challenging enough. If it's not an issue, start with GG&S and read collapse later.

Also, Collapse scared the living shit out of me. Big motivation to work for change, and to try to get others to do so, too.

I've quoted from it on wmtc, you mind find it under "what i'm reading".

Evening, all. Harv and I are here, watching a game together in the same place. Should be fun. I am preparing myself to be happy about the wild card, and he is preparing to act graciously if the Yankee win the East. That way we will not be at each other's throats...until the ALCS.

Most civilizations have *not* failed in the sense that Diamond is talking about. The Roman Empire ended, and nations and politics were re-drawn, but all the people did not starve to death and completely disappear.

GG&S was very interesting. And I'm not disagreeing with what Jared is saying... though I sometimes feel he is expounding on ideas that to many rational people would seem obvious. He does weave a coherent tale.

But the idea that civilizations often chose paths or directions against their own best interests is patently apparent.

Afghanistan (Taleban) hosts Al Queda... can't say that worked out well for them. Republicans from the middle of the USA keep voting for big business supporting politicians that send all their jobs off shore and give the largest tax breaks to the wealthy and debilitate the public support structures that most benefit the lower and middle class (schools for example.)

People and civilizations chose against their own best interests all the time.

People and civilizations chose against their own best interests all the time.

Absolutely, although your examples are of a completely different nature than the subjects of Collapse.

Most people I know don't know how Easter Island came to be depopulated, why European settlement starved to death in Greenland, and several other historical examples. I found very little in the book that was obvious.

There are roughly 350 hitters in MLB who have had over 100 plate appearances since the All-Star Break. Of these roughly 350, Jason Varitek has the worst batting average... in baseball. Here's the bottom 5: